50 Marlin Caught in Venezuela Super Slam

The Venezuelan International Super Slam posted a strong tournament with a total of 50 billfish caught in two days of fishing. The catches included three grand slams, or three different species of billfish in the same day. Uncharacteristically, there were more sails than whites released during this event held on October 1–2, the traditional height of Venezuela’s white marlin season.

The fleet caught a total of nine blue marlin, 12 whites and 29 sailfish. All catches were on 30-pound-test line and verified by highly qualified observers on each boat.

The team aboard the Venezuelan-based 58-foot Viking, Plastika, skippered by Capt. Jorge ‘Carapacho’ Mayorca took the early lead on the first day of fishing, releasing a blue marlin release and a sailfish. The 60-foot Jessica Lee and the Puerto Rico-based 62-foot Hatteras, Bluebird, were right on their tails with two sailfish and two white marlin releases, respectively. Plastika added two white marlin to their day’s total in the afternoon, earning them an additional 200 bonus points for completing a Grand Slam (sailfish, blue marlin and white marlin). Jessica Lee caught a white and a sail in the afternoon and Bluebird added a sail, keeping both boats within striking distance of the leader at the end of the day. The three leaders scored 20 bonus points for using circle hooks on each released fish.

Conditions on the second and final day changed and the prevailing northeast wind that cools most of the Caribbean returned after unseasonable flat-calm seas the previous day. Shortly after lines-in both Jessica Lee and Bluebird released a sailfish each to start the morning off and add some excitement. Plastika answered with a sail of their own, adding to their score and maintaining their lead. Meanwhile the 35-foot Bertram Someday Lady stole the show, making their move by releasing four sails and adding a white before 1 p.m. They had only released one sailfish the day before having lost the entire morning at the dock with mechanical problems but by the early afternoon on day two, they were right in the thick of things.

Plastika continued to build on their lead, adding a pair of sailfish by 1:30 p.m., but at 2:10, Someday Lady released a blue marlin, thus completing a Grand Slam, and leap-frogging from ninth place at the start of the day to second place and well within striking distance of the leader with more than two hours to fish.

When it was all said and done, the team aboard Plastika with Venezuelan anglers Dr. Roger Galindo, Juan Angarita and Alvaro Galindo emerged victorious with an impressive total of 2,220 points. The team fishing aboard Someday Lady finished second with a score of 1,900 points, followed by the third place Jessica Lee team with 1,620 points and team member Yerison Millan winning the Super Slam’s High Point Individual Angler award.

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